SG OptimizerBy SiteGround

DescriptionThis plugin is designed to link WordPress with the SiteGround Performance services. It WILL NOT WORK on another hosting provider. The SG Optimizer plugin has few different parts handling speciffic performance optimizations:

SG Optimizer

SUPERCACHER CONFIGThe main functionality of SuperCacher part of the plugin is to purge your dynamic cache whenever your content updates. For example, when you create a new post, someone comments your articles, etc. In addition to that, if you have a working Memcached service on your server, the plugin will allow you to easily configure and enable WordPress to use it.

There is public Purge function – sg_cachepress_purge_cache, which can be used by other plugins/themes. Example usage:

if (function_exists(‘sg_cachepress_purge_cache’)) {sg_cachepress_purge_cache();}

WP-CLI command is now available: “wp sg purge” to clear the cache.

HTTPS CONFIGThe HTTPS Config allows you to force SSL usage on your site. It will redirect your entire traffic over secure connections and will fix mixed content issues. A side benefit of switching on the HTTPS is the automatic use of the HTTP2 protocol and its performance benefits.

PHP CONFIGThis tool will allow you to check if your website is compatible with the recommended by SiteGround PHP version(7.0) and switch to it with a click. It is highly advisable to keep your WordPress running on the recommended PHP for best security and performance.

REQUIREMENTSIn order to work correctly, this plugin requires that your server meets the following criteria:PHP 5.5SiteGround accountIf you’re not hosted with SiteGround this plugin WILL NOT WORK because it relies on a specific server configuration

EXCLUDE URLS FROM DYNAMIC CACHINGThis field allows you to exclude URLs from the cache. This means that if you need certain parts of your site to be completely dynamic, you need to add them into this list. Type in the last part of the URL that you want to be excluded. For example, if you type in ‘url’, then ‘/path/to/url/’ will be excluded but ‘/path/to/’ and ‘/path/to/url/else/’ won’t.

MEMCACHED SETTINGSEnable Memcached – Store in the server’s memory (using Memcached) frequently executed queries to the database for a faster access on a later use.

HTTPS CONFIGURATIONForce HTTPS on/off — enable or disable the the https redirect for your whole site and the rewriting of the resource links from http to https.

-OK, not greatSG Optimizer is alright, but there are much better ones out there. It speeds up your website maybe a tiny bit but I feel it’s written to reduce CPU usage rather than for actual load speed. For better performance, go with Swift or WP Rocket.

-If you are hosting on SiteGround (and you should be) this is an amazing plugin!We have over 100 websites for clients hosted in SiteGround. Offers ease of use, robust caching options that often shave second off loading times. Couple that with SiteGround’s amazing hosting speeds and you have sites that often load in 2 seconds with SSLs. If you aren’t hosting on SiteGround, you may want to switch because it’s worth it!

-Easy solution for SiteGround customersI usually use WP Rocket but for a SiteGround site I thought I’d try this. Static Cache and Dynamic Cache with Memcached works fine out of the box. My site is as fast as I’d expect with any other performance plugins, except that this is included with my hosting.

-It doesn’t have a lot of settings but for a simpler site that’s a good thing because there’s nothing special that needs to be done. The only other thing I wanted was a CDN (other than Cloudflare) but the CDN Enabler plugin with KeyCDN made that cheap and easy.